Making Unilateral Norms for Military AI Multilateral
The United States cannot be denied leadership when it comes to AI ethics. For example, several policy documents have laid out principles and frameworks for the development of autonomous weapon systems: Ethical Principles for Artificial Intelligence, Responsible Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Implementation Pathway, and Directive 3000.09. The Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy released by the State Department in February 2023 is another important example.
This article argues that all these policy documents are helpful in improving the global conversation around AI in military systems. The United States can work with its closest allies to turn such unilateral declarative statements into meaningful multilateral commitment to promote international norms for military AI use. However, when it comes to international negotiations about legal frameworks, most notably the efforts to come up with a treaty on lethal autonomous weapon systems, the US - and Russia and China - are not showing the same kind of leadership.
Still, the normative framework that the US is helping to build can - especially when there will be a large degree of international buy-in - become a blueprint for a future treaty. In the meantime, such a framework would be much more responsive to the speed of change occurring in AI technology.